So you're saying at home you ate pancakes every day? I'm sorry, but if you're not willing to eat some food you don't like in order to get a college education, then you have an issue. As a freshman it is likely you have a required meal plan that is costing someone, likely your parents, real money. To ignore dining hall food and buy additional food for every meal is not financially sound idea. When you don't have a meal plan, then shop and microwave. Saying you're a picky eater is not an excuse - just don't be picky - try new things. Unless this is a small school, most dining facilities have "picky eater" options. Boxes of cereal for breakfast, PB&J or basic sandwich for lunch. - I would think grilled cheese could be ordered most of the time.. Would be shocked if mac n cheese isn't frequently offered. In fact, at D's school, breakfast swipe was just 5 items so she could, and did, get multiple boxes of cereal, yogurt cups, granola bars, or fruit that she would save for later. Most colleges have basic foods because students like them (hence chicken finger wednesday and taco Tuesdays)

You're list of things you like is very small. Did your parents only feed you this stuff? Is there a medical reason why you don't like foods?

If you just don't like the way it's prepared, then IMHO, you need to get over it.

Mom of an extremely picky eater here, who's just starting to slowly open up to new foods as a HS student (peer pressure helped a lot).
You need to work on this, period. The lack of variety in your food will cause you health problems later in life. However, I realize this may be extremely hard for you and not just "being spoiled". There are techniques that help, like starting from very small pieces (desensitization). You may never become omnivorous, but you should be able to eventually get decent nutrition in most situations.
Look for a therapist and/or nutritionist specializing in eating disorder. However, many of them unfortunately are concentrated on anorexia and bulimia and don't really know how to deal with this, so you might have to be proactive. Google "selective eating disorder".
in the meantime, you may start with getting a blender and making yourself protein cocktails to get some nutrition, and learning to cook (mac and cheese aren't that hard).

My D1's boyfriend (now fiancé) was a very picky eater when she met him freshman year of college. It is actually one of the first things she ever told me about him before I met him. She has gradually coaxed him into trying many new foods. His family LOVES her, and I think one reason is that she managed to break his picky eating habits. When I first new him, we had to worry about whether a restaurant or family dinner would have something he would like. (He never said anything, he is a very polite kid, but I wanted him to be comfortable and have food he liked). Now several years later, we never have to worry about it -- he eats lots of stuff (like a "normal" person) -- there are a few things he doesn't eat, but he's expanded a LOT.

I think you can work on this in the dining hall. Start slow, and try more stuff.

My daughter was a preemie and many of them have eating issues. Mostly texture. My daughter ate white food and some yellow food. Elbow macaroni with white parm cheese from the Kraft green can. Nothing else, especially not Kraft mac and cheese (orange) and no parm cheese from Safeway can (orange). Eggs with cheese were okay. Cereal but not with milk, only milk in a cup on the side.

I decided not to argue about food with her. She ate what she ate. Many of my friends with preemies with issues went to eating clinics at children's hospital, spent a lot of time tasting and urging and bribing. I just fed my kid what she liked. She liked everything plain, or on the side, so that's what she got.

For her it was a texture thing. She doesn't like things like yogurt, condiments, pudding, nothing banana ever ever ever, no ice cream with 'things' in it like nuts or berries. She's added a lot more to her diet by trying the 'plain' version and then trying it with a sauce, or mixed together (with cheese!).

Hi, I am a high school student and I have the same predicament as you. I got treated at a hospital to gain weight after struggling with being extremely picky. I have opened up to some new foods, but mostly I just found ways to work nutrition into my diet, and how to survive life with a diet like mine. I would seriously suggest going to a counselor and a doctor immediately. I saw a dietitian for a long time and I found ways to work with my diet. If you are drastically losing weight then you need to immediately see a doctor, trust me it will benefit you in the future. It sucks to have to gain lots of weight, it is painful and just sucky. Good luck, if you need more advice on living life with this then just talk or ask questions, I consider myself pretty experienced. I hope you get the help you need, and can work around this tough spot.

do you have access to a fridge & microwave?
buy cheese & bread, frozen pancakes.
Also try to make friends with some of the short order cooks in the dining hall and ask them to make you grilled cheese, or give you plain pasta with cheese on it, etc.

Pickiness is actually an issue for some people at college. One of my my friends doesn't like many fruits and vegetables. He likes anything with protein, carbohydrates, etc. But honestly, you should be more open to trying new things. I'm also shocked that there's only one dining hall on your campus.

Do you have any more options to choose from?

At my college, we had our main dining hall, a couple other places that use flex (a fixed $ balance that you have for each semester as a part of your meal plan) We also have a food truck and off campus restaurants like McDonalds, Subway, Sheetz, etc. I didn't mean to brag, but I'm assuming that your college is small enough to only have one dining hall on campus.

How does this "picky" thing happen to this extreme? Do parents allow it when the kids are young? My kids ate what they were offered at meals. Did they like everything? No. But there was enough at each meal (protein, carb, two veggies, milk and bread) to fill up on. I never insisted they eat anything but I also NEVER made them a separate meal or allowed them cereal or yogurt in place of. I did try to have at least one or two things each meal that they liked. I do understand that texture is a real thing, I have it myself, but if you can't find something to fill your belly, there's a bigger problem here.

I want to chime in to explain how something like this can happen, and also to respectfully disagree with all of those who are stating that counseling is necessary. The daughter of a friend is brilliant and on the autism spectrum. She only has about 3 or four foods that she will eat. They are similar to the foods that OP has listed. Its not optimal nutritionally, but not everything in all of our lives will be optimal. I believe she rounds it out with a daily vitamin. She will be heading off to college soon, probably one of the country's top universities and will have to figure out how to deal with the food issue. My guess is that she will make heavy use of an in-room microfridge to make pasta and the few other foods on the approved list. I am not suggesting that OP is on the autism spectrum, only that not every less then ideal issue needs to be immediately solved with counseling.

My question for the OP is whether she has these options available and if so, why not make the food herself. If there are specific obstacles, post them and we will try to brainstorm some workarounds.

I was close to posting something yesterday close to what NEPatsGirl wrote above in #25. But held off as it didn't seem germane to helping the OP solve their problem. But I am curious.

My take on it was "Is this an American thing? Because there's no way my immigrant parents would have tolerated me not eating whatever it was that they put on my plate when I was growing up — including stuff like boiled fish, head-on."